| y-axis |
The vertical axis, representing height, in an x-y coordinate system or three-dimensional coordinate system.
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| y-punch |
A punch in the top row of a Hollerith card.
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| Y2K |
Year 2000. The year that many computers may develop problems because of lack of foresight on the part of programmers. In the 1980s and before, most computer programs were designed to store only the last two digits of the years on all dates. When the Year 2000 comes, these programs will show dates of 00, which may be interpreted the same as 1900. This discrepancy may cause widespread problems, especially in the large computer systems used in government and big industries. For some reason, nobody thought to do something about this problem until the 1990s, and it may be too late. Even though most programs have been updated, it will be difficult to track down all the places the date problem occurs.
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| YA |
Yet Another.
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| yacc |
Yet Another Compiler Compiler. A UNIX compiler used to generate C compilers.
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| YAFIYGI |
You Asked For It, You Got It. Refers to user interfaces which are not WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). With YAFIYGI, the file on the screen may show text and code, but does not show what the printed out copy will look like.
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| YAHOO |
Yet Another Hierarchical Organized Oracle. An online World Wide Web directory, found at http://www.yahoo.com. It includes access to the Alta Vista search engine. Also called Yet Another Hierarchically Officious Oracle.
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| Yahoo! Pager |
Yahoo!'s instant messaging system
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| Yahooligans! |
YAHOO for children.
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| yay |
Yet Another Yacc. An extension of UNIX compiler yacc (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).
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| Year 2000 |
(Y2K). The year that many computers may develop problems because of lack of foresight on the part of programmers. In the 1980s and before, most computer programs were designed to store only the last two digits of the years on all dates. When the Year 2000 comes, these programs will show dates of 00, which may be interpreted the same as 1900. This discrepancy may cause widespread problems, especially in the large computer systems used in government and big industries. For some reason, nobody thought to do something about this problem until the 1990s, and it may be too late. Even though most programs have been updated, it will be difficult to track down all the places the date problem occurs.
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| Yellow Pages |
(YP or yp). The former name for Network Information Service (NIC), Sun's client-server protocol for keeping track of user and host names on a network.
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| Yet Another Compiler Compiler |
(yacc). A UNIX compiler used to generate C compilers.
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| Yet Another Yacc |
(yay). An extension of UNIX compiler yacc (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).
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| YIQ |
The image encoding scheme used for color TV and the NTSC video standard. Y is luminance, I is red minus Y, and Q is blue minus Y. Luminance alone gives a black and white or monochrome signal, as in black and white TV. See also YUV.
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| Ymodem |
A file transfer protocol, faster than Xmodem, but not as advanced as Zmodem.
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| yo-yo |
A toy which has two thick flat round sides and a peg between them around which is wound a string. The yo-yo goes up and down as the string is wound or unwound. 2. To rapidly switch between being up and down several times (speaking of a computer).
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| yocto- |
The SI prefix meaning 10^-24.
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| yotta- |
The SI prefix for 10^24; or, in binary, 2^80 = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176
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| yottabyte |
2^80 = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes, which is 1,024 zettabytes.
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| You Asked For It, You Got It |
(YAFIYGI). Refers to user interfaces which are not WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). With YAFIYGI, the file on the screen may show text and code, but does not show what the printed out copy will look like.
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| Your Mileage May Vary |
An expression seen next to EPA mileage ratings in car advertisements, which means the buyer may not get the same mileage as the rating. This expression has been adopted by computer users as a disclaimer on free software and in online chat to mean "Your experience may be different."
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| Yourdon, Edward |
The developer of Yourdon software engineering methodology and publisher of educational and technical books on software engineering.
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| YP |
Yellow Pages, now called Network Information Service. Sun's client-server protocol for keeping track of user and host names on a network.
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| Yp orientation |
Orientation of a font along the Y axis for printing.
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